The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a tail sitter vehicle with aerial and ground refueling system and, more particularly, to a tail sitter unmanned aerial vehicle with aerial and ground refueling systems.
Aircraft missions often require VTOL capability that is combined with long range and endurance and can be very demanding. Conventional configurations of such aircraft are designed primarily for efficient forward flight, for efficient vertical lift or a poor compromise solution that permits both forward and vertical flight. Alternatively, some configurations include tilt-wing or tilt-rotor features that allow tilting of the fuselage with respect to the nacelles and have VTOL capabilities, long range and endurance but pay a high penalty in terms of complexity, higher empty weight and other inefficiencies.
One particular configuration is a rotor blown wing (RBW) configuration where a hybrid aircraft can fly as a rotorcraft and as a fixed wing aircraft. In such cases, the availability of fuel has been identified as an emerging tactical need. Currently, some conventional fixed wing and tilt rotor aircraft but not VTOL aircraft can be refueled in flight using large tanker aircraft. Meanwhile, it has long been understood that refueling of ground vehicles and grounded aircraft can be accomplished by using standard fuel tanks.